Masters Thesis

Episodic memory, phenomenal empathy, and the representation of time

This paper will synthesize the existing literature in the fields of animal behavior and human development, episodic memory, theory of mind, and the representation of time, establishing a close relationship between the three, and giving empirically supported conceptual distinctions between two forms of episodic memory, and two forms of theory of mind. The minimal requirements for the development of each form of both episodic memory and theory of mind will be determined. Delineating the conditions for the development of each form of both episodic memory and theory of mind will show that there is a dependency relationship necessitating a sequential and alternating development of the two forms of each faculty, specifically that prospective episodic memory can develop only following the advent of both retrospective episodic memory, and mindreading, in that order, and that metacognition can only arise subsequent to prospective episodic memory. The paper will conclude with an analysis of the relationship between episodic memory, metacognition, and temporal representation, showing that temporal representation is fundamentally conditioned by the structure of episodic memory and theory of mind.

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